Optimal Placement of Renewable Distributed Generation in Radial Distribution Network

Abstract

Optimal placement and sizing of distributed generation is one of the most studied areas in the current distribution network planning and operation. It is well known that the power network has always had a passive distribution network and introduction of distributed generation into the network introduces various challenges including voltage instability, equipment overloads, losses, and harmonics among several others. In order to avoid such technical challenges and also gain the best out of the integration of distributed generation, optimization studies are performed to select the best location and size. There are various studies that have been done in placement and sizing of distributed generation including use of analytical approaches, mixed integer linear and non-linear programming techniques, heuristic algorithms, fuzzy theorem and the list is not exhaustive. Of late, renewable energy distributed generation is being considered since it is a free resource and environmentally friendly. However, these bring further challenges in consideration of the variations in generation versus the objective to meet the load demand. This paper therefore aims to review the efforts that are being done to do an optimal placement that considers variable renewable energy resources as used in radial distribution network (RDN). Keywords—Distributed Generation, Optimal Location and Sizing, Radial Distribution Network, Renewable Energy Resources.